The Papua New Guinea US$19 billion (K60.36 billion) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has the potential for expansion, acting Secretary for the Department of Petroleum and Energy Kepsey Puiye, says.

The petroleum project is yet to be developed in the country.

“Next lot of LNG projects in the pipeline? Well, to talk about the next generation of LNG projects, we can’t talk about new LNG projects without talking about the PNG LNG project,” Puiye said.

“I say this because the PNG LNG project is showing ‘overwhelming’ evidence of expansion.
“So in terms of expansion or new projects, we must recognise that the PNG LNG project has a much bigger narrative to tell.

“That is, it sets the record as PNG’s foundation LNG project and it continues to show huge signs of expansion, making it a significant national project with a much bigger reserves size than we initially thought.”

Puiye said the other LNG project that is most likely to getting into full construction in the next two to three is the Papua LNG project.

“This project is based on the Elk/Antelope gas reserves located in Baimuru, Gulf province,” he said.
“In terms of size, this project has potential gas reserves of 6-7TCF (trillion cubic feet) with rich liquids or condensate of several millions of barrels.

“The gas field is located in an area where we believe there is a very exciting petroleum system in place.
“This actually increases the value of the project because of the upside potential.